Needle selecting means for knitting machines

ABSTRACT

Needle selecting means for the raising of selected needles of multi-feed circular knitting machines from welt to latch clearing levels in two steps and for the retention of non-raised needles at welt level which includes, at each feed of the machine, a plurality of vertically aligned separate level raise and guard cams of which the raise cams act upon selected ones of individual butts disposed at a like plurality of levels on jack-like extensions of the needles to raise the so selected needles, in the first step, a relatively short distance to a level at which the partially raised needles are thereafter raised, in the second step, to latch clearing level by a needle raise cam acting upon common level butts on the needles, and of which the guard cams act upon the individual jack butts of the non-raised needles to retain the same at welt level. A raise and a guard cam are formed at the opposite end faces of a cam block and a like plurality of aligned cam blocks are releaseably secured in a housing to provide a unit cam package of raise and guard cams, the cam blocks are individually reversely positionable in the housing to place either their raise or their guard cams in operative position, and the package of cams is removeably attachable as a unit to individual cam sections of the machine.

United States Patent [15.] 3,696,641 Sumitomo [451 Oct. 10, 1972 [54] NEEDLE SELECTING MEANS FOR Primary Examiner-W. Carter Reynolds KNITTING MACHINES [72] inventor: Norishige Sumitomo, Osaka, Japan [73] Assignee: Precision Fukuhara Works, Ltd.,

Kobe Kyogo, Japan [22] Filed: Jan. 12, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 105,837

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 21, 1970 Japan ..45/5576 [52] US. Cl ..66/40, 66/57 [51] Int. Cl. ..D04b 15/32, D04b 15/68 [58] Field of Search ..66I38, 50 R, 36 A, 36 B, 75, 66/25, 57, 40

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,641,786 2/1972 Burdett et a1. ..66/50B 3,646,779 3/1972 Nuber et a1 ..66/25 3,283,540 11/1966 Levin ..66I50 R X 3,423,960 l/l969 Wiesinger et al. ..66I25 3,490,252 l/1970 Paepke et a1. ..66/57 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,132,678 7/1962 Germany ..66/38 480,477 12/1969 Switzerland ..66l25 Attorney-Nathan Levin ABSTRACT Needle selecting means for the raising of selected needles of multi-feed circular knitting machines from welt to latch clearing levels in two steps and for the retention of non-raised needles at welt level which includes, at each feed of the machine, a plurality of vertically aligned separate level raise and guard cams of which the raise cams act upon selected ones of individual butts disposed at a like plurality of levels on jack-like extensions of the needles to raise the so selected needies, in the first step, a relatively short distance to a level at which the partially raised needles are thereafter raised, in the second step, to latch clearing level by a needle raise cam acting upon common level butts on the needles, and of which the guard cams act upon the individual jack butts of the non-raised needles to retain the same at welt level. A raise and a guard cam are formed at the opposite end faces of a cam block and a like plurality of aligned cam blocks are releaseably secured in a housing to provide a unit cam package of raise and guard cams, the cam blocks are individually reversely positionable in the housing to place either their raise or their guard cams in operative position, and the package of cams is removeably attachable as a unit to individual cam sections of the machine.

5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENIEDnm 10 m2 SHEET 1 [1F 2 PA'TENTED um 10 m2- SHEET 2 BF 2 Fig.9.

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Fig.7. Fig.8.

NEEDLE SELECTING MEANS FOR KNITTING MACHINES The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting and more particularly to needle selecting means for use upon circular knitting machines whereby individual selected ones of the needles of the machine are adapted to be raised.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide needle selecting means for use at individual feeds of circular knitting machines to raise selected individual needles thereat and which comprises, at each feed, a plurality of vertically aligned separate level raise and guard cams of which the raise cams act upon individual butts of jacks operatively related to the needles to raise selected ones of the jacks and their associated needles a relatively short distance to a level at which the so-raised needles are thereafter further raised'by a needle raise cam acting upon common level butts of the needles, and of which the guard cams act upon individual butts of the jacks to retain the jacks and their associated needles in lowered welt position.

a It is a further object of the present invention to form raise and guard cams at the opposite end faces of a cam block and to secure a plurality of cam blocks within a housing thereby toprovide a unit package of raise and guard cams, and to provide means whereby each such package of cams is readily removeably attachable to individual cam sections of a circular knitting machine. The cam blocks are readily reverseable in the housing to present either their raise cams or their guard cams to the jack butts.

With the above and other objects in view which will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings, the present invention resides in the novel elements of construction and arrangement of parts of the needle selecting means illustrated and as hereinafter particularly pointed out in the claims.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a cam section of a circular knitting machine with the package of cams of the present invention secured in place thereon,

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the cam section of FIG. 1 showing the disposition of the plurality of vertically aligned separate level jack raise and guard cams of the package of cams and also showing the relation of the needle raise and guard cams thereto,

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the cam package itself of the present invention, 2

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a single cam block of the present invention showing the jack raise and guard cams extending from the opposite end faces thereof,

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the relative disposition of the jack raise and guard cams in relation to the jack butts upon which these cams operate, showing the needle raise cam, and also showing how selected needles are raised by the co-action of the named cams,

FIG. 8 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 70 showing how other selected needles are caused to pass by the needle raise cam without being raised thereby, and

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of representative needles of the present invention showing integral jack extensions of the needles and the selecting butts thereon. The package of cams forming part of the present invention is shown by itself at 10 in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 and is shown positioned in a cam section 11 of a multi-feed circular knitting machine in FIGS. 1 and 2. The cam section 11 is L-shaped with an upright portion 12 and a lower off set portion 13. The cam section 11 is adapted to be secured in upright position upon the bed plate of the machine, adjacent its needle .cylinder, by suitable screws (not shown) extending through a pair of circumferentially spaced holes 14, 14 formed in the off set portion 13 and into threaded engagement with the bed plate. It will be understood that there is a plurality of like cam sections 11 arranged in side by side relation around the needle cylinder to form the circular cam section of the machine and that the cams in the cam sections 11 are in position to operate upon the butts of the needles and jacks in the slots of the needle cylinder.

One lateral side face of the upright and off set portions 12 and 13 of each cam section 11 is undercut to form therein a horizontally extending square bottomed channel, the bottom and side walls of which are indicated at I5, 16 and 17. The same face of section 11 is provided with horizontally extending upper and lower retaining and abutment straps 18 and 19 secured on the section adjacent the side walls 16 and 17 of the channel. Screws v20 hold strap 19 in place with its upper edge 19a above the level of side wall 17, the strap 19 having an abutment stop l9bat its inner end. Screws 21 hold strap 18 in place with its lower edge 18a aligned with the side wall 16 of the channel, the strap 18 having an abutment stop 18b at its inner end. The package of cams, to be described, is adpted to be placed in the channel of section 11 and secured in place therein.

Each cam package 10 includes housing 22 of generally block like shape of which one lateral side face is horizontally undercut to provide a square bottomed channel therein extending fully across the same, the bottom and side walls of the channel being indicated at 23, 24 and 25. Extending crosswise of the channel in the housing 22 and in spaced relation to the bottom 23 thereof is a retaining strap or key 26. The opposite ends of the key 26 are disposed in vertical slots formed in the housing 22 above and below the sidewalls 24 and 25 thereof. Key 26 is detachably secured to the housing 22 by screws 27 extending through holes in its end portions and into threaded engagement with the housing. The key 26 is of such thickness as to extend at 26a above the adjoining surface of the housing and is of such length that its lower end 26b is short of the corresponding end of the housing.

Also secured to the housing 22, at one end face thereof, is a cover plate 28 which is held in position by screws 29 passing through the plate 28 and into threaded engagement with the housing. The plate 28 covers one end of the housing channel and extends above the housing as at 28a where a screw 30 extends freely through a hole formed in the extension. Disposed within the housing channel and retained therein by key. 26 is a plurality of aligned cam blocks 31. While l3 of such blocks are shown, it will be understood that the number thereof may be more or may be less. As in FIG. 6, each cam block 31 is in the form of a relatively small rectangular block one side of which has been cut out midway of its length to provide a keyway 31a. Key 26 snugly fits into the aligned keyways 31a of the cam blocks 31. Each cam block 31 is provided with an angularly disposed raise cam 31b extending from one of its end faces and with a horizontally disposed guard cam 31c extending from its opposite end face. One surface of cam 310 is co-planar with one surface of cam block 31. It will be obvious that, by temporary removal of key 26, the blocks 31 may be readily reversely positioned, as may be desired, in the housing 22 with either their raise cams 3lb or their guard cams 31c projecting from the package.

The cam package is slidable along the channel in section 11 into and out of position therein, with the cam package, in position, having its uncut faces disposed adjacent to the bottom and side walls 15, 16 and 17 of the cam section 11. The cam package is disposed between the bottom of section 11 and the inner face of extension 19a of strap 19, with the end 26b of key 26 atop and aligned with the strap 19. The edge 18a of strap 18 is atop and aligned with the upper end of key 26. The inward position of the cam package 10 is determined by contact of edge 26a of key 26 with the stops 19b of strap 19 and 18b of strap 18. Once the package 10 is in place, it is held therein by the threaded engagement of screw 30 into the section 11. The package of cams may be readily removed from the cam section 11 by the unscrewing of screw 30 from the cam section and sliding the package along the channel in the cam section.

The cylinder sides of cam section 11 is provided with a needle raise cam 32 held in place in a suitable slot in the section 11 by a screw 32a extending through section 11 into threaded engagement with the cam 32. The cylinder side of cam section 11 is also provided with a needle guard cam 33 held in place by one or more screws 33a passing through cam 33 into threaded engagement with the section. The cam 32 is at a level above the level of the uppermost one of the cam blocks 31 and the cams 32 and 33 are spaced to provide a passageway between their near faces 32b and 33a for the restricted passage therethrough of the butts of needles at welt level.

In the FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the disposition of the jack raise cams 3lb,the jack guard cams 31c, the needle raise cam 32, and the needle guard cam 33 are shown in relation to each other and to the disposition of the butts on the jacks and on the needles. The jack raise and guard cams may be referred to as jack control cams. Three representative latch needles to be used in the present invention in combination with the jack control cams and the needle cams 32 and 33 are shown at 34, 35 and 36. These are long tail needles and have integral jack extensions of their shanks as at 34a, 35a and 36a. Each needle shank is provided with common level spaced butts 37 and 38 of which the butt 37 is to be acted upon by the raise cam 32 and of which both butts 37 and 38 are to be acted upon by a compound stitch cam (not shown) to lower the raised needles. The jack portions 340, 35a and 36a of the needles are provided with selecting butts 39, 40 and 41, respectively, disposed at three separate levels lengthwise thereof. Inasmuch as there are thirteen levels of the jack control cams, the needles, in toto, will have jack butts disposed at thirteen separate levels on the jack portions thereof for operation by the thirteen jack control cams. When a needle is raised from its welt level by the action of a jack raise cam 3lb on its jack selecting butt, it is raised thereby to a level at which its butt 37 is thereafter acted upon by cam 32 to raise the needle to its full latch clearing level. The needles will be set out in the cylinder slots with their jack selecting butts arranged according to a pre-determined pattern and the arrangement of the cam blocks 31, at each feed of the machine, will also be according to a pre-determined pattern so that either the cam 31b or the cam 3lc of each block 31 will be in jack butt operating position.

As shown in FIG. 7, the top level jack selecting butt 39 of needle 34 is raised by the corresponding top level cam 31b to raise the jack and needle to the level at which butt 37 of the needle is raised above the leading end of cam 32 whereby the face 32a of cam 32 will then further raise the needle to full latch clearing level. The cam 3lb is shown in dotted lines at the leading end of cam 32 to show how these two cams cooperate upon the jack butt 39 and the needle butt 37 to raise the needle 34. Similar needle raising takes place at each level at which there is a jack raise cam 31b and a jack selecting butt on the jack portion of the needles.

As shown in FIG. 8, the second level jack control cam is a guard cam 31c and at this level on the jack 35a of needle 35 there is a jack selecting butt 40. This needle 35 is selected so as not to be raised, at a feed, and it is desired that the needle be positively retained in lowered welt position so as not to take yarn and so that its butt 37 will not hit the leading end of cam 32 to cause damage to the machine. To this end butt 40 is caused to pass under the cam 31c and such action causes the needle butt 37 to pass under the cam 32 and between raise cam 32 and guard cam 33 into and along the passageway defined by the cam faces 32b and 33a. The leading ends of cams 31c and of guard cam 33 are ahead of the leading end of cam 32 and the action of cams 31c and 33 on butts 40 and 37 is such that the needie is securely positioned by the cams 3lc and 33 at the time the needle butt 37 enters the path between cams 32 and 33. The cam 310 is shown in dotted lines at the leading end of cam 32 to show how the needles are kept at welt level. It will be noted that the leading edges of guard cams 3lc are downwardly angled to act upon the top edges of the jack selecting butts to accordingly lower the jacks and their related needles.

It will be understood that while the action of the jack guard cams does not in itself provide for the selective raising of the needles, still it is a valuable adjunct thereto in that it retains the nonraised needles positively in their welt position. It will also be noted that since the jack raise cams act to raise the selected needles a relatively short distance and that the needle raise cam does the bulk of the needle raising, it is thereby possible to have a relatively large number of jack control cams in a relatively small space to provide a relatively large pattern selecting capacity for the machine. It is also possible thereby to provide a package of jack control cams of relatively small size and to make such packages interchangeable in the cam sections of multi-feed circular knitting machines.

1 claim:

1. Needle selecting means for circular knitting machines of the type having a slotted needle cylinder, a circle of latch needles disposed in and vertically movable between lower and upper positions in the needle slots of said cylinder, and a cam ring around said cylinder and revolving relative thereto, said cam ring comprising a plurality of sections thereof, said needles having jacks formed integrally therewith in-extension of the shanks thereof, said jacks also being disposed in and vertically movable in said needle slots, at least one of said cam sections having a plurality of radially extending individual rectangularly shaped cam blocks disposed thereon at a corresponding plurality of levels, said cam blocks being vertically arranged atop and in supporting contact with each other and providing a like plurality of vertically arranged jack control cams individually disposed at said plurality of levels, said cam blocks including said jack control cams formed integrally therewith, said jack control cams comprising jack raise cams and jack guard cams wherein each of said jack control cams is wholly disposed within its own related one of said plurality of levels, said jacks having control butts disposed thereon at a corresponding like plurality of levels at which said control butts are operatively related to said control cams, saidcam section also having a needle raise cam disposed thereon and said needles each having a common level butt thereon, individual ones of said jack raise cams being operative upon correspondingly individual ones of said control butts to raise the jacks related thereto and thus to raise the needles related to said last mentioned jacks from said lower position thereof toward but not to said upper position, and said needle raise cam being operative upon the common level butts of said raised needles to thereafter raise the same to said upper position thereof.

2. Needle selecting means as in claim 1 wherein said common level butts on said needles are at a level above the level of the uppermost one of said jack control butts, wherein said needle raise cam is at a level above the level of the uppermost one of said jack control cams, wherein said upper and lower positions of said needles are their latch clearing and their welt levels, respectively, wherein said cam section also has a needle guard cam disposed thereon in spaced relation to said needle raise cam to provide a passageway therebetween for the restricted passage therethrough of the common level butts of the needles at said welt level, each of the common level butts of said last mentioned needles being in said passageway at the same time that each of the jack control butts on the jacks related to said last'mentioned needles is being operated upon by a jack guard cam, the leading ends of said needle guard cam and of said jack guard cams being ahead of the leading end of said needle raise cam.

3. Needle selecting means as in claim 1 wherein individual ones of said cam blocks are each provided with a jack raise cam extending from one of its end faces and with a jack guard cam extending from the other end face thereof, said last mentioned raise and guard eams comprising the raise and guard cams of said jack control earns, each of said earn blocks being reversely positionable to present its jack raise cam or its jaek guard cam in operative relation to said jack control butts.

4. Needle selecting means as in claim 3 which insaid cam blocks having a similarly disposed keyway formed in one of its side faces, said blocks being arranged lengthwise in said channel with their keyways aligned crosswise of the open side of said channel, and a key fitting into and secured in said aligned keyways, said key positionally retaining said cam blocks in said housing, and wherein said cam housing is removeably attached to said cam section.

5. Needle selecting means as in claim 4 wherein a lateral side face of said cam section is provided with an open sided channel formed therein, and wherein said cam housing containing said cam blocks is removeably positionable within said channel in said cam section. 

1. Needle selecting means for circular knitting machines of the type having a slotted needle cylinder, a circle of latch needles disposed in and vertically movable between lower and upper positions in the needle slots of said cylinder, and a cam ring around said cylinder and revolving relAtive thereto, said cam ring comprising a plurality of sections thereof, said needles having jacks formed integrally therewith in extension of the shanks thereof, said jacks also being disposed in and vertically movable in said needle slots, at least one of said cam sections having a plurality of radially extending individual rectangularly shaped cam blocks disposed thereon at a corresponding plurality of levels, said cam blocks being vertically arranged atop and in supporting contact with each other and providing a like plurality of vertically arranged jack control cams individually disposed at said plurality of levels, said cam blocks including said jack control cams formed integrally therewith, said jack control cams comprising jack raise cams and jack guard cams wherein each of said jack control cams is wholly disposed within its own related one of said plurality of levels, said jacks having control butts disposed thereon at a corresponding like plurality of levels at which said control butts are operatively related to said control cams, said cam section also having a needle raise cam disposed thereon and said needles each having a common level butt thereon, individual ones of said jack raise cams being operative upon correspondingly individual ones of said control butts to raise the jacks related thereto and thus to raise the needles related to said last mentioned jacks from said lower position thereof toward but not to said upper position, and said needle raise cam being operative upon the common level butts of said raised needles to thereafter raise the same to said upper position thereof.
 2. Needle selecting means as in claim 1 wherein said common level butts on said needles are at a level above the level of the uppermost one of said jack control butts, wherein said needle raise cam is at a level above the level of the uppermost one of said jack control cams, wherein said upper and lower positions of said needles are their latch clearing and their welt levels, respectively, wherein said cam section also has a needle guard cam disposed thereon in spaced relation to said needle raise cam to provide a passageway therebetween for the restricted passage therethrough of the common level butts of the needles at said welt level, each of the common level butts of said last mentioned needles being in said passageway at the same time that each of the jack control butts on the jacks related to said last mentioned needles is being operated upon by a jack guard cam, the leading ends of said needle guard cam and of said jack guard cams being ahead of the leading end of said needle raise cam.
 3. Needle selecting means as in claim 1 wherein individual ones of said cam blocks are each provided with a jack raise cam extending from one of its end faces and with a jack guard cam extending from the other end face thereof, said last mentioned raise and guard cams comprising the raise and guard cams of said jack control cams, each of said cam blocks being reversely positionable to present its jack raise cam or its jack guard cam in operative relation to said jack control butts.
 4. Needle selecting means as in claim 3 which includes a cam housing for said cam blocks, said housing having an open sided channel formed therein, each of said cam blocks having a similarly disposed keyway formed in one of its side faces, said blocks being arranged lengthwise in said channel with their keyways aligned crosswise of the open side of said channel, and a key fitting into and secured in said aligned keyways, said key positionally retaining said cam blocks in said housing, and wherein said cam housing is removeably attached to said cam section.
 5. Needle selecting means as in claim 4 wherein a lateral side face of said cam section is provided with an open sided channel formed therein, and wherein said cam housing containing said cam blocks is removeably positionable within said channel in said cam section. 